Henrick Douwerman, attributed to
A carved oak figure of the Virgin and Child on the Crescent, attributed to Henrick Douwerman
Carved three-quarters in the round, the reverse flattened and deeply hollowed out. With possibly original polychromy, the faces and heads overpainted. A figure of the crowned Virgin standing on a crescent moon, holding the nude Christ Child to one side with both hands. The stepped border to the reverse of the work indicates the former presence of an aureola. The style of drapery, the depiction of the Child, and the treatment of the facial features of this Lower Rhenish piece all correspond to those used in the works produced around 1510-1520 by the sculptor Henrick Douwerman, active in Cleves. Comparable pieces include a Virgin and Child in the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam, a Virgin and Child in the Church of Mariae Himmelfahrt in Cleves and a personification of Ecclesia in the Church of St. Nikolai in Kalkar.
Ammendments to the back of the crown. Minimal wear. Height 80 cm.
Provenance
Collection of Prof. Dr. Hans Waege, Belgium.
Literature
For similar pieces cf. exhib. cat.: Gegen den Strom. Meisterwerke niederrheinischer Skulptur in Zeiten der Reformation 1500-1550, ed. Barbara Rommé, Berlin 1996 (cat. of the exhib. in the Suermondt-Ludwig-Museum Aachen 12.12.1996-2.3.1997), p. 179-181, 198-200 & 203-205, cat. no. 14, 21 & 23.